1. Field
The present invention generally relates to multi-media program viewing, and more specifically, to providing an instant replay function during multi-media program viewing.
2. Background
Digital video recorders (DVRs), personal video recorders (PVRs), DVD players, set-top boxes (STBs) and other similar consumer electronic devices, collectively (CE) devices, provide so called trick modes to allow a viewer to navigate recorded audio/video contents during playback. Traditional trick modes include forward, reverse and slow motion, etc. at various speeds. These trick modes are analogous to ones that are available in analog devices like the VCRs (video cassette recorders). Due to the digital nature of the video and audio data stored and processed in present CE devices, additional trick modes, such as, instant replay and skip functionality and others are now also available together with the traditional ones.
Instant replay lets the viewer watch an incoming video segment once or repeatedly. Such feature is useful and desirable, especially for sporting and entertainment events.
A number of mechanisms have been proposed to implement instant replay. In one system, the instant replay is shown in PIP (picture-in-picture) thereby reducing the resolution considerably. This may limit the quality and view-ability of the video clip that the user may want to watch closely again. In other systems, the mechanisms involve complex circuitry.
Hence, it would be desirable to provide methods and systems that are capable of providing instant replay in a more efficient manner.